A Princess and A Warrior: Carnitas...Midwest Style

Last weekend my local farmer’s market inspired my salsa (a post to come). In the middle of making the salsa inspired these carnitas. One of my favorite places to visit is Arizona.Two of my favorite people in the whole world live there. When we visit we do a lot of running around and a lot of food tasting! You can imagine the amazing Mexican food that we've had so close to Mexico. I think my favorite is the tamales. I haven’t given the tamales a try, I’m actually kind of intimidated. But I think that I’ve been able to replicate the carnitas pretty well...with maybe a midwest twist (the cheese)! One important key to the carnitas is the corn tortillas. You see a lot of flour tortillas for tacos around here, but they only use the corn soft shell tortillas. I really like the texture and the flavor better. I've seen them make the meat on the grill…but I put it in my slow cooker. Afterall, I have two very busy kids to keep up with and I needed the meat to sit and chill somewhere that I didn’t have keep an eye on it. And I am so glad that I did. The meat was so tasty and tender and happy!

Carnitas (Slow Roasted Pork Tacos)

For the meat

Ingredients

2-3 lbs pork roast, pork shoulder, pork butt…whatever

½ small red onion, thinly sliced then chopped (you won’t even know it’s in the meat)

2 Tbl Worcestershire sauce

3 garlic cloves, minced

½ tsp ground mustard

1 tsp paprika

2 Tbl brown sugar

¼ tsp cayenne pepper

1 Tbl chili pepper

1 tsp cumin

Pull out the slow cooker and set it on high (or low if you have all day). Lay the red onion on the bottom. Set the pork roast on top of the onion. Mix all the remaining ingredients together in a small bowl and pour over the meat. Put a lid on it a let it hang out for 5 or 6 hours. If the meat doesn’t fall apart when you put a fork to it then you need to give it another hour or so. When it’s done take it out of the slow cooker and set it on a cutting board and let it hang out for about 20 minutes. Shred the meat with a fork. Put the meat in a dish and ladle a spoonful or two of the juice from the meat to it.

For the Carnitas

Ingredients

Corn Tortillas (the soft ones)

Lettuce (we used a romaine and cilantro mix)

Cheese (we use Monetary Jack or the Mexican mix)

Salsa (homemade preferably, recipe to come soon!)

Guacamole (homemade preferably, also to come soon!)

Sour Cream

To assemble the tacos heat the corn tortillas on a hot skillet or like me, directly on the clean burner, about a minute on both sides. And fill’er up! Use the toppings I suggest Or whatever you like!